How to Save a Life
by PaperCut27
Summary: Slightly AU. Finn Hudson has the perfect life. He has the perfect family, the perfect girlfriend, and the perfect best friend. But one mistake will change all of this. Rated T because I'm paranoid.
1. Chapter 1

AN- This is my new story, How to Save a Life. This is only slightly based off of the song by The Fray. This is the prologue so the actual story part of this will be coming soon. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer- I don't own GLEE or How to Save a Life by The Fray.

My name is Finn Hudson. I'm 6' 4" and it's no secret that I'm good looking. All through high school, I was kind of the most popular guy in school. I got everything I wanted. My life couldn't get any more perfect.

I had the perfect family. My dad died when I was a baby so I was raised by my mom. She worked hard to keep food on the table and the lights on but I wouldn't trade her for the world. Then, during my sophomore year, she met this amazing guy, Burt, and the two of them got married a year later. I went from having just a mother to having two loving parents and an awesome step-brother. Kurt isn't exactly what you'd expect. He's about as straight as his boyfriend Blaine's hair– not straight. But he's my brother and I love him. There was a time when I didn't appreciate him. Having a gay brother didn't exactly make it easy to stay popular. But at the end of the day we're family and we love each other.

I had the perfect girlfriend. Quinn Fabray was the head cheerleader. She as blonde, pretty, had nice boobs. What can I say? I was an eighteen-year-old guy. Quinn and I had a seemingly perfect relationship. We had been going strong for three years. We were the "it" couple and well on our way to prom queen and king.

I was the quarterback. I was McKinley High's first sophomore quarterback and had confidently held onto the position since. Coach Bieste LOVED me and I was winning. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that I would hold onto my position until I walked across that stage with my diploma. Being the quarterback meant that I was popular. It meant that teacher's gave me C's so I could keep playing. It meant everyone respected me.

I had the perfect best friend. Sam Evans had been by my side through thick and thin since we were little kids. He was loyal, like a golden retriever. We met in pee-wee football. Sam was seven and I was eight. He immediately latched onto me like a puppy. Sam was shy so I took him under my wing and helped him learn how to get what he wants. He never was very good at it though. But somehow he still managed to be popular. He was popular for a different reason. Everyone liked him. He was so damn charming. People loved Sam because he was honestly the sweetest kid ever.

It's funny how one mistake can change someone's entire life. How, even things you think aren't a big deal can hurt everyone around you. This is the story of how losing one of these things, caused me to lose all of the others.

AN- Dun, dun, dun! Read and review!


	2. Chapter 2

I entered William McKinley High School one Friday morning, my main goal for the day being to survive it. I had tests in both Spanish and History but I'm pretty much guaranteed a C on both. If they fail me, I can't play in the next game. No teacher wants to be responsible for that one. But mostly I was just looking forward to the party that night.

Rachel Berry wasn't very popular but her gay dads were loaded and they went out of town a lot so her house was perfect for Friday night beer blasts. Plus she was totally hot for the Finnster so I always got invited. Sam pretty much never came with me. He had this weird Christian belief that he was going to hell if he drank or something like that. But this time I had kind of convinced him that the party was going to be completely dry so he reluctantly agreed to come. I was pretty sure if I could get one drink in him he would understand that drinking really isn't that bad.

"Hi there, handsome," A flirtatious voice interrupted me from my thoughts.

"Hello gorgeous," I replied. I noticed Sam had popped up next to us.

"You boys excited for the party tonight?" Quinn asked us both with a slight grin. I babbled on about how pumped I was while Sam stood behind us and just nodded occasionally.

When the three of us got to the party, Rachel was being her usual self, nagging about her rules and crap while Puck, who usually set up these parties was just handing out beers like there was no tomorrow.

"You said there wasn't going to be alcohol!" Sam yelled accusingly.

"Yeah," I said grabbing a beer from the cooler. "I lied. Come on Sam, lighten up for once!" He rolled his eyes and walked away. Quinn walked away too. She rarely drank at these parties for the same reason as Sam. I didn't care. At least she didn't whine and complain about those who did drink.

A few hours and about seven beers later, I was laying on my back making out with some girl. Her name was Tanya or Taylor or something like that. I didn't really know anything about her but she's Asian and she's hot so I went for it, even if there is some Asian guy from the football team standing in the corner glaring at me. Besides Quinn was off somewhere with the other kill-joy which probably would've concerned me more if I was sober. The two of them were like completely in love. They dated for six months until I convinced Quinn that dating me was the only way to win prom queen. We made out, Sam found out, he dumped her, we started dating, and the topic was never brought up again.

Then sexy Asian girl got up to get another drink and Sam approached me for the first time that night. "We have to go. I have a curfew." He said sternly.

"I'm not ready to go yet," I said whining slightly.

"That's too bad. I'm driving home so we're leaving," he said sounding greatly exasperated. "Quinn already drove herself home." I got up and followed him out to the car. I'm pretty sure that I was wobbling a little bit because Sam kept grabbing my arm to steady me. When we finally get to the car I asked him "Are you mad at me?"

"A little," he replied. "Just, don't do something stupid like this again."

"Okay," I mumbled. It wasn't sincere. I planned on doing exactly this the next Friday but Sam wouldn't know about it then.

"You know I didn't have that much to drink. I can still drive," I knew Sam hated driving at night. He had just gotten his license and got nervous enough about driving during the day. He was a mess on a Friday night.

"You're a lot funnier than I thought," he mumbled. "There's no way I'm letting you drive. I don't feel like dying tonight."

"Whatever, can we stop at Taco Bell on the way home?" I slurred.

"Why?" he asked, arching his eyebrows.

"I'm hungry," I mumbled. Sam rolled his eyes and continued driving.

"Come on. It will only take like two extra minutes," he shook his head. Then, as we drove by the road you turn down to go to Taco Bell, I drunkenly reached for the wheel. If I was sober, we would have been fine. If it wasn't for my sudden craving for a burrito, we would have been fine. Even if I had turned the wheel at the right moment so we actually turned onto the road, we would have been fine. But I turned it too early. Witnesses say we went off the road and flipped over about five times before we reached the bottom of the hill. I don't remember it. I was too disoriented.

When I came to Sam was already awake. "Hey buddy," I mumbled, partly from the alcohol and partly from the concussion. "Listen, I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry about tonight. Buddy, are you alright?" I finally noticed that his breathing was a little off.

"Yeah, I'm alright," I finally worked up the courage to glance over at him. That's when I noticed the large shard of glass from the windshield stabbing him in the stomach. It didn't exactly look good but he said he was fine so I believed him.

"You couldn't just stop at Taco Bell," I said harshly. I knew I wasn't being fair but I felt like I was dying and Sam seemed perfectly fine. It was easy to take my anger out on him.

"Yeah, guess we'll be really late now huh?" he said wincing slightly as he spoke.

"Sam, if I don't make it, you shouldn't blame yourself. You made one mistake. You shouldn't let it define your life." He made a quiet noise like he understood then all noise coming from him ceased.

"Sam, Sam buddy wake up. Sam! Sam!" I was screaming now and shaking him. I was doing everything I could to wake him up. I reached over and placed two fingers on his wrist to feel for a pulse. There was none. I may have been a dumbass but I knew what that meant. Then the edges of my vision stared blurring. They say best friends do everything together. My only thought as I drifted off was that with me and Sam that included dying.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN- Okay, so, before you go on, you have to promise not to hate me. Just saying.**

**Disclaimer- Don't own GLEE. Sigh.**

I blinked a few times before looking around the hospital room that I was currently in. My family and Quinn were all sitting with me with tears in their eyes. My mom immediately jumped up from her seat and soothed me by running her fingers through my hair.

"Hi sweetie."

"What happened?" I said still a bit confused about how I was injured. All I knew was that my head hurt, my arm was in a cast, and basically every part of my body ached.

"You got into a little accident." I suddenly remembered everything, from the party, to the conversation about Taco Bell, to the crash.

"Am I okay?" I asked. I was honestly a bit worried. Everyone looked so upset. I knew I had to be hurt really bad to make them all cry.

"You're going to be just fine, kiddo, just a concussion, broken arm, and you're a little bruised up. But you could have been hurt a lot worse," Burt informed me. I couldn't help but notice that a look of grief spread over everyone's face as he said that last part. Then, for the first time, I wasn't worried about myself. My only thought was my best friend.

"Oh my God, is Sam okay?" I watched Quinn and Kurt both choke back sobs. Both my mom and Burt had matching looks of sympathy. They didn't have to say anything more. I knew.

"Finn, honey, Sam didn't make it." Mom rubbed my shoulder in a comforting matter. I was a bit high on pain killers for the rest of the night. I don't remember much, but I do remember, after being brought back home, waking up at three in the morning and sobbing into my pillow for three straight hours. I killed my best friend.

* * *

Sam's funeral was seriously a thousand times worse than I anticipated. I hadn't been back to school yet so everyone was staring at me. They knew what happened. I'm sure there were a bunch of rumors floating around by this point. Rachel ran up to me as soon as she arrived. She tried to be sweet and comforting but I really didn't want to talk to anyone.

While she talked, I watched Sam's parents on the other side of the room. I wanted to say something to them but that wasn't going to happen. I killed their oldest son. I could never face them again. They were sweet people who were always super nice to me when I was over. I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't even notice Rachel walk away.

"What are you thinking about?" a voice from behind me asked, interrupting my thoughts. I turned around to find Quinn, a sniffling mess. I pulled her into my arms and held her for a moment, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

I didn't have the nerve to say anything during the service. I was pretty sure if I went up there, I'd just end up sobbing uncontrollably in front of everyone. I was also trying to avoid being seen by any relative of his that might know me. Instead I sat quietly in the back between Quinn and Kurt, holding both their hands, and biting my lip in an attempt to stop myself from crying out.

* * *

Our school's glee club, Kurt included, performed some song that I didn't know. It was probably some show tune, which was probably the last thing Sam wanted to be sung at his funeral but it still sounded good. Sam was in the glee club. He didn't even care that it made him less popular and in the end, it didn't affect his popularity at all. Instead, he made the glee club more popular.

His girlfriend, Mercedes, stepped up and sang some depressing song about always loving someone that had everyone in tears. I know that if Sam had been there, he would have loved it. He really loved her. I was skeptical about the relationship because she wasn't popular and would definitely lower his status but once again, instead of dragging him down, their relationship made Mercedes more popular.

When the song was over, the singers returned to their seats. As Kurt sat back down next to me, I pulled him a little closer. Then I tightened my grip on Quinn as she squeezed my shoulder. I was glad that I had my brother and girlfriend with me for support. I needed them.

**AN- I kind of hate myself for doing this. :( Seriously, who kills off their favorite chracter? Apparently I do, but that's kind of the plot of this story so whatever. Review!**


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